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Chapter 25
Myths of the atrocities of the war include the truth of a fight against the aggression of Nazi
Germany and Japan but that all fought together in the foxhole, minorities included, and together
in the factory. The courageous U.S. soldiers came and quickly adjusted to American life having
committed no atrocities abroad. Human nature ceased to exist on the battlefield and an emotional
recklessness abandoned by passion consumed all.
Its effects on America included the lift of depression, a redistributed income, and a
transformation into a middle class society but all was not that simple as discrimination,
prejudice, and the ignored growing poverty remained hidden.
The United States in a Menacing World
1933-1939
Nationalism and the Good Neighbor
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Good Neighbor Policy (1933)
Latin America
No state has the right to intervene in the internal or external affairs of another
FDR withdrew the last U.S. troops from Haiti and the Dominican Republic
American bankers loosened their rip on Haitis central banking system
It renounced the Platt Amendment
Reduced U.S. role in Panamanian affairs
Cuba
Economic crisis in 1933
Leftist regime rose but U.S., instead of sending in marines, provided indirect aid
to a conservative revolt that overthrew the radical government in 1934
Fulgenio Batista led conservative revolt
Tariff on Cuban sugar cane lowered by U.S. to support Batista
Batista overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959
Mexico
Nationalized oil companies owned by U.S. and Britain
U.S. demanded fair compensation
After lengthy negotiations, a compensation agreement was formed
Good Neighbor Policy did not end U.S. interference in Latin America nor ended
resentment of rich Uncle Sam by Latin countries but did better relations with Latin
America which would prove useful in World War II and the Cold War
The Rise of Aggressive States in Europe and Asia
Italy
Benito Mussolini and his Fascist party seized power in 1922
Imposed one-party rule
Invaded Ethiopia in October 1935 (in order to create a Roman empire)
Germany
Adolf Hitler becomes Germanys chancellor (January 1933)
National Socialist party (Nazi)
Began a program to purify Germany of Jews whom he blamed responsible for the
defeat in World War I (regarded them as the inferior race)
Violation of the Versailles Treaty
FDR willing to run for third term in time of crisis: won election with VP Henry
Wallace
Appointed Henry Stimson and Frank Knox as secretaries of war and navy
Selective Service and Training Act
First peacetime draft in U.S. history which also approved an enormous increase in
spending and rearmament
Destroyers-for-Bases
Swap with England of fifty ships to Britain in exchange for naval and air bases in
the Western Hemisphere
Isolationists
Henry Ford, both parties of the Right and Left, Charles Lindbergh, Fortress
America could stand alone, Robert Taft
Public
Supported FDRs support of Britain as long as America stayed out of war
Lend-Lease (1941)
Supply war materials to any nation deemed vital to the defense of the U.S.
Britain, England, even USSR (people against communism) but FDR willing to
hold hands with the Devil in order to defeat Hitler
Atlantic Charter (1941)
FDR met with Churchill
Condemned international aggression
Affirmed the right of national self-determination
Endorsed the principle of free trade, disarmament, and collective authority
Sinking of the Reuben James
German U-boat torpedoed it and killed 115 American sailors
FDR persuaded Congress to arm merchant ships and their entry into belligerent
ports in war zones
Virtually nothing left of the Neutrality Acts
December 7, 1941: Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes attacked U.S. fleet
at anchor in Hawaii
Losses: Score of warships, 350 aircraft, 1,200 American wounded, 2,400
American dead
Did FDR Know?
Some argued that he had intentionally kept the fleet there in order to pull America
into war
December 8, 1941: Congress declared war against Japan
Germany and Italy kept their word and fought against the United States
Europe, northern Africa, Suez Canal, Mediterranean, Asia, Chesapeake all subject
to Axis attacks and wins
U-Boats
Largely helped the Germans fighting against the United States harming and
sinking thousands of Allied ships
America Mobilizes for War
Organizing for Victory
Joint Chiefs of Staff: army, navy, and army air force to direct defense
Office of Strategic Services (OSS): would conduct the espionage required for strategic
planning
War Production Board: allocated materials, limited the production of civilian goods, and
distributed contracts among manufacturers
War Manpower Commission: supervised the mobilization of men and women for the
military, agriculture, and industry
National War Labor Board: mediated disputes between management and labor
Office of Price Administration: rationed scarce products and imposed price controls to
check inflation
Office of War Mobilization: coordinated the production, procurement, transportation, and
distribution of civilian and military supplies
War production industries:
o Late 1942: a third of the economy was committed to war production
o Crude rubber came from Japan but since couldnt get anymore, U.S. became
largest exporter of synthetic rubber
o Greatest weapons manufacturer
Power of Government
o With the production of so much industry, the government went hand-in-hand with
business to keep manufacturing at the top
Concentration of power deemed the imperial presidency a century later
Growing of the military-industrial complex
The War Economy
Government spent more than $320 billion to defeat Axis powers
o Results
Massive expenditures ended the Depression
Stimulated an industrial boom
Created 17million new jobs
Jobs for women, elderly, teens, hearing-impaired, dwarfs (they all had
different purposes and abilities that helped them in their field of work)
Raised real wages by 50%
Geographical funding
o Government produced nearly $40 billion into the West
o Southern funding produced more jobs in textile, oil and natural gas, chemical, and
aluminum industries
o Souths industrial capacity increased by 40%
The war years produced the only significant 20th century shift in the distribution of
income toward greater equality
Agribusiness greatly improved due to consumers
Labor Unions recruited more members from their maintenance of membership rule
created by the NWLB to automatically enroll workers into unions
o Members agreed not to strike and to limit wage increases to 15%
o Some broke no-strike pledge wildcat strikes not authorized by union leaders
and short lived
United Mine Workers (UMW)
o John L. Lewis
- More than half-million coal-field workers
- Miners won wage concessions
o Led to Smith-Conally War Labor Disputes Act of 1943: enabled the president to
take over any facility where strikes interrupted war production (FDR vetoed it but
Congress passed it over his veto)
Inflation
o Increased about 2% per month (increased spending power and scarcity of
consumer goods)
o Congress gave president power to control wages, prices, and rents (OPA helped
inflation slow dramatically)
OPA
o Besides controlling inflation, set up rationing to conserve scarce materials
Gas, coffee, sugar, butter, cheese, meat
People planted own victory gardens, Meatless Tuesdays, Uncle Sams
Scrappers
Financing the War
o War Bonds
o Increase in Taxes
Revenue Act of 1942
A Wizard War
Definition: Winston Churchill labeled it to show the wartime developments in science
and technology as well as medicine and killing
Office of Scientific Research and Development: FDR set agency up to generate radar and
sonar devices, rocket weapons, and bomb fuses ($1 billion)
Mark I:
o 1942-1944: group of scientists in basement of Harvards physics laboratory
developed IBMs Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator
o ENIAC: improvement upon Mark I
Manhattan Project:
o 1939 tip from Einstein that Germans were building weapon of mass destruction
o 1941: secret program-NO SOVIETS ALLOWED-to develop atomic bomb
Propaganda and Politics:
Office of Censorship
o President able to read letters going overseas
o Pictures of dead soldiers (but only those where Americans killed by Japanese)
Office of War Information (1942)
o Artists, writers, advertising specialists to help promote the heroism of the war
Republicans at home
o Roosevelts Butchers
o Cynical about human life or rotting in a veterans hospital still having nightmares
about the war
The Home Front
Major topographical migration
o People looking for jobs
o Moving from rural to urban areas
o Major housing shortages and disruption in many areas
Divorce, mental illness, family violence, juvenile delinquency
Women
o Highly went into war production labor force
More than 6 million women
Rosie the Riveter
o Gender discrimination
Only 65% of what men made in similar fields
Only there as a temporary substitute until men came back
Nation believed it is mothers primary duty to children and home not leave
eight hour orphan
Employment of women would cause family to disintegrate
o Allowed military positions (not fighting)
Education
o With not enough men to go into college, more women were readily accepted
o High school enrollment drastically dropped as teenagers were being employed full
time
Popular culture also gained influence (books, patriotic films, songs, radio)
Racism and New Opportunities
1942 Double V campaign: victory over racial discrimination as well as over the Axis
NAACP membership increased and had half a million members (1945)
o Anti-lynch law
o No poll tax
o Smith v. Allwright (1944): ruled all-white primary unconstitutional
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
o 1942: sought to desegregate all public facilities in the north
A. Philip Randolph
o Thundering march on Washington 100,000 blacks
o FDR compromised
June 1941: Executive Order 8802
prohibited discriminatory employment practices by federal
agencies and all unions engaged in war-related work
established Fair Employment Practices Commission
Black rights
o Jobs, unions, minimum wage raised, military services (segregated)
Riots! Blacks vs. Whites
White racism posed threat to national security just as in Germany
o Nazis against Jews
o Whites against Blacks, Latinos, and Asians
War and Diversity:
Native Americans
o Navajo code talkers greatly benefitted Americans since no one could break the
Navajos language
o Many migrated off reservations but discrimination forced many back
o National Congress of American Indians (1944)
Mexican-Americans
o Exploitation
Braceros: temporary workers (foreign laborers not immigrants)
Agribusiness: no adequate wages, medical care, or living conditions
About 20% escaped to urban and factory jobs
o Hostility
Pachucos-young gang members wearing zoot suits
White Americans 1943 L.A. riot attacking pachucos, cutting their hair,
beating them, as police looked other way
o Military
More than 350,000 in combat units without segregation
Gays and Lesbians
o Found wartime opportunities
o Also discriminated against; called sexual perverts
o 1945: gay veterans established the Veterans Benevolent Association (1st major
gay organization in US to combat discrimination)
The Internment of Japanese-Americans
Internment/relocation centers
o 37,000 first-generation Japanese immigrants (Issei)
o 75,000 native-born Japanese Americans (Nisei)
West Coast
o Nativists wanted Japanese land
o Yellow Peril to boost anti-Japanese sentiment
Executive Order 9066
o FDR issued it February 1942
o Authorized the removal from military areas of anyone deemed a threat
o Evacuate all of Japanese ancestry on the west coast, but not Hawaiians
o No order placed on Hawaiians even though a larger number of them there
Stalin
Stalin subdued Poland in order for it no to fall into Germans hands again
but took over its government and turned it communist